


Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies

by elynne



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Arathi Basin, For the Horde!, Other, PVP, true story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-30
Updated: 2012-06-30
Packaged: 2017-11-08 21:51:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/447932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elynne/pseuds/elynne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Khydann's first Arathi Basin experience is not quite as nobly heroic as she might have expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies

Khydann fidgeted nervously in her saddle, shivering in the cold wind blowing off the mountains around Arathi Basin. She was trailing behind the small and ragged relief troop she’d been assigned to, but no matter how she tried to urge her kodo to greater speed, Lumpy simply plodded along at his same unhurried rate.

Far ahead, the troop engaged Alliance forces, and Khydann reigned in. This was her first battle in the Basin, and the orders she’d been given were rather vague. Already, it appeared that her troop was routing the Alliance, driving them back towards the blacksmith’s complex on the crest of hill beyond the ragged scraps of farmland she was riding through.

Sighing, Khydann kicked Lumpy’s flanks, lurching down what she hoped was the right road. A few minutes later, she realized that she had in fact taken a wrong turn. She could see her troop securing the blacksmith’s complex… on the other side of a wide, deep river. The waters were crystal clear, as clear as the mountain ice from which they had so recently melted. Khydann swallowed, unhappily contemplating a swim in that icy stream.

Next to her, the white tiger she had brought to the battle snorted and turned, growling at something behind her. The tauren turned in the kodo’s saddle, her ears flicking as she caught the sounds of battle. It took her a minute to realize that they were coming up from a ravine that bordered the road opposite the stream. Curious, she prodded Lumpy closer to the edge. Spread out below her was the entrance to the Arathi Mines, a valuable source of gold and gems for whichever faction controlled it. At the moment, it was held by the Horde, but it appeared that the defending troop had been reduced to a single troll shaman, who was doing his best to hold off what seemed to be at least a half-dozen Alliance fighters. The shaman traded blows and flung spells furiously in the midst of a small forest of totems that shone and pulsed on the ground.

The attackers were backed up against the cliff wall, and Khydann couldn’t see them clearly. She leaned forward in the saddle, hoping to catch a glimpse that would allow her to estimate their numbers and strength, and signal for support from the successful troop at the blacksmith’s. Already overbalanced, Lumpy shifted forward with his rider, then suddenly began sliding as the thin lip of cliff under his massive feet gave way. Khydann shrieked, struggling with the reins, her cries drowned out by the terrified bellowing of the kodo. Somehow, she stayed on the animal’s back as he pitched and jumped, skidding down the cliff face and into the ravine. Rocks bounced down, bringing showers of dirt and gravel rumbling beside them.

At the bottom, Khydann coughed, checking herself and her mount for damage. She was surprised to find that they were both unhurt. As the dust settled, she was less surprised to see Avalanche, the white tiger, bounding down to perch gracefully on a boulder beside her before settling down to nonchalantly groom a pristine white paw. Shaking her head, Khydann abruptly remembered the fight she had been watching, and looked around wildly, reaching for her rifle. The only person she saw in the ravine floor was the troll shaman, who stared at her, seeming frozen in place, his eyes wide.

“Uh… hello, there,” she said, still looking for the Alliance troop that had been threatening him a minute before, and wondering where they might be hiding. “Uh… you need any help down here?” The troll blinked, then slowly shook his head. “All right then,” Khydann said, trying to sound confident and thankful that her fur hid most of her growing blush. “You seem to have things well in hand down here for now. I’ll go, uh… tell my troop that you need some reinforcements, okay?” The troll nodded, still silent, and Khydann cleared her throat. She waved, kicking Lumpy into movement, and lumbered up the road, hunched embarrassed into her saddle.

Avalanche jumped lightly down off the pile of rocks and stopped for a moment to swipe at a human hand that twitched once from under the edge of the slide. As the cat bounded off the road after the kodo and rider, the troll shaman turned back to the rock pile, now a shallow grave for the entire Alliance troop that he had been fighting, and began to laugh.


End file.
